


Christmas Cleaning

by raindrop_rouge



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 10:03:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7098295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raindrop_rouge/pseuds/raindrop_rouge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas has come and gone, and Levi only has one thing in mind: cleaning up. Eren, however, does not seem 100% devoted to cooperating. </p>
<p>Post-Christmas fluff!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Cleaning

Levi froze as a loud crash came from the living room.

His hands were raised mid-air, so close to their goal of taking down the tinsel strung along the walls of the hallway. _That’s odd_ , Levi thought as he lowered his arms and stepped off the stool he was using. Eren was in the living room yet there had been no shout. Levi’s eye twitched. The crash had been anticipated, if not _intended_.

With a sigh, he stepped away from the bouquets of holly, lights and other obnoxious decorations “decking their halls” Eren had insisted they put up way over a month ago, and padded over to the source of the noise.

The living room was a mess. Well, Hanji, Erwin and most of their other friends probably wouldn’t call it that, but there were boxes on the floor that definitely shouldn’t be, and unnecessary dust-collecting decorations lying around that _definitely should be in the boxes by now_.

“Eren!” Levi snapped at his boyfriend, “What are you _doing_?”

Eren had jumped upon hearing his name. He was stood by the Christmas tree, cradling a big cardboard box in one arm, and reaching into the branches with the other.

“Hey babe,” he called out, with a big goofy grin on his stupid perfect face. “So, I’ve gathered all the stuff you wanted me to take down in the other rooms and was just about to pack them back up, but then I decided I should tackle the tree immediately, because, you know, later I probably won’t want to anymore, and uh…” Eren glanced down to his feet. “Well, we agreed we had to do it today.”

Levi groaned inwardly. He never intended to guilt-trip Eren into putting things away.

The younger man had gotten excessively excited about the holidays, more specifically about Christmas- Levi’s least favorite holiday. The social pressure on gathering your family for a nice meal had led to far too many awful memories. Between his cousins bullying him for his short size, his uncle sending colorful insults his way and his mother occasionally taking out the extra stress the “festivities” were causing her on him, he’d grown to wish Christmas could just fly by quietly. But then he just had to go and fall for the greatest Christmas enthusiast of all time.

Halloween had barely gone by that Eren had raced around town to stock up on winter ornaments; never mind they hardly had room to store them. As much as he cared about keeping that gorgeous smile on his boyfriend’s face, Levi had felt the need to prevent him from turning their recently acquired flat into a winter wonderland. At least, not that early on.

Levi had managed to hold Eren back for a decent amount of time, and had considered that a huge victory. That was until Christmas had passed, and Eren had proved he was capable of holding Levi back from putting everything away instantly. “There’s nothing to be excited about in January and January’s still winter, so just leave everything a tiny bit longer, please babe?” The reasoning was awful but Eren’s hopeful face had forced Levi to capitulate.

Nevertheless, waking up every morning to the reminder that his childhood had been less than enviable had been testing Levi’s patience.

Levi had been struggling to find a way to express his deepening distaste for their interior design that would not offend Eren. To be fair, the younger man’s semester had picked up quickly, giving him little time to clear out the flat.

But now it was past mid-January and the situation was ridiculous. Apparently Eren had understood they had reached the point where even his best puppy eyes would not protect the Santa Shrine he had turned their flat into. So last night he had approached his boyfriend and promised him they’d deal with the Christmas decorations this morning. Eren had laughed at the look of pure relief that had painted itself on Levi’s face, but obviously Eren had felt a bit guilty about it too.

“Eren..”, Levi began. _Come on Levi this is not worth him feeling bad about_. Why was reassuring Eren so hard, when Eren always soothed him effortlessly whenever he needed?. “I’m a grown ass man, if I need something to be taken down in my living space I can damn well do it myself. So uh… don’t freak out about needing to make all this magically disappear from sight.”

_You have fond memories of the holidays and I just want you to be able to enjoy them. And make more. With me. Preferably._

Eren’s bright eyes found his own again as he smiled. “I’m pretty close to making everything magically disappear from sight though.”

Levi’s brow furrowed as he stepped closer. His eyes grew wide as the cause of the crashing sound became painfully obvious. “Eren! You can’t just… why would you…” Levi cut himself off with a groan as he brought his palm to his forehead.

Eren, it would seem, had come up with an innovative way of un-decorating the Christmas tree in record time. His method consisted in holding the box beneath a layer of branches, and trying to knock off as many ornaments as possible with one big swiping motion. Given the ornaments scattered around his feet, this plan did not work out properly and he had missed a good 50% of what fell off the tree. At least nothing was broken. Levi was briefly glad he insisted Eren buy only the cheap plastic ornaments. He had had a feeling something like this would happen.

“Eren, step back,” he ordered, taking the box away from him. “Don’t tell me you’ve never learned to put ornaments away properly.”

“They all go into one big box, Levi, why would how they get there matter?” Eren frowned.

Levi sighed. “You’ll damage them if you leave them all to rub against each other in a box every year. That’s what the tissue paper I provided you with is for. I don’t think there are any worth wrapping individually, but put some in to separate layers of ornaments at least.”

Eren was already kneeling with the box before him on the floor and had begun repacking everything as Levi requested. Levi sat down to help him. “When we get delicate and valuable ornaments, you’ll have to wrap them up one by one though.”

Eren shot him a bright smile. Levi raised a slender eyebrow. “What?”  
“You said ‘when’,” Eren murmured, tilting his head and looking at him fondly. “I can’t wait,” he added, getting back to gathering the ornaments lying around him.

Levi huffed. “Such a spoiled brat,” he muttered, praying that the warmth in his cheeks wouldn’t show.

They had barely rearranged what Eren had already taken off the tree before the brunet stood up and stretched. “Actually, I think I want to put away the other decorations first. And weren’t you in the middle of clearing our hallway? You can go back to that, love, I know how you hate interrupting yourself in the middle of something.”

“Whose fault was that? Plus if we stop now, I’ll just be leaving something else unfinished.”

“I’ll finish up here later, ok? Go on,” Eren all but ushered him back out of their living room.

Levi could not believe how much effort Eren put into ‘Christmas-ing up’ every inch of the flat (oh no, he was not going to start using Eren’s made-up holiday-special words). It certainly took him way more effort than it could ever possibly be worth to clear it all out. But by early evening, he had finally finished putting his boxes back on top of their wardrobe. They definitely needed more storage space.

He headed back to the living room. Most boxes were packed and lined up against the wall. Everything was back in place. Eren was under the tree, arranging the remaining tree ornaments just as he was taught earlier. Levi smiled to himself. Needless to say, Eren did not enjoy repetitive tasks. ‘Lay out ornaments, spread tissue paper over it, repeat’ are not steps he would have followed when he still lived alone. Levi had seen how Eren had fought and overcome many of his bad housekeeping habits as soon as they’d moved in together. Watching Eren focus so hard on a task because he knew it would make Levi happy was too much for his heart to handle.

Levi walked over, a rapid flutter still in his chest, and knelt down beside Eren. They put away the remaining Christmas mementos in silence.

All that was left was the tree and its star, cut out of yellow cardboard paper and showered in gold glitter. Eren had been unable to find the star of his dreams, so, frustrated about hearing him complain about it everyday, Mikasa had made it for him. It was half meant as a joke, but Eren loved it. “Every tree needs at least one home-made decoration!” he’d babbled on to Levi later. Levi had rolled his eyes, but deep down he was also relieved that issue had been solved.

Levi was about to reach up and take it down when Eren nervously cleared his throat next to him. “Eren?” he inquired.

Eren avoided his gaze and shifted his weight, hands fidgeting. “Do we uh… Do you really feel up to carrying the tree out and throwing it out tonight?”

Levi scoffed, but bit back the sarcastic reply that rose to his lips. “Isn’t that the reason why we started cleaning in the first place? To get this big ass tree down by this evening?” It really wasn’t a big ass tree. But it was also no secret he had enough of sweeping up pine needles all the damn time.

Eren nodded, his lips in a pout he failed to hide. He understood though.

Levi battled with himself internally for a moment, before speaking up. “Well… I mean you do help with the sweeping… If you’re that keen on keeping that up a bit longer…” he muttered tentatively.

Eren looked up, eyes bright and glimmering with hope. Levi sighed before asking, not in defeat but in compromise, one he was happy to make. “Would you like to keep our first tree up one more night?”

Eren threw his arms around his shorter boyfriend’s neck, squeezing him tight. “Yes! Thanks Levi! I promise you won’t have to worry I’ll deal with it tomorrow!”

“I somehow doubt that,” Levi muttered back, voice muffled by Eren’s sweater, but with no real bite to his words. He was tempted to wrap his arms around his boyfriend’s torso and just stay there for a while, but if they were going to leave the tree up, they might as well enjoy it.

“Go sit on the couch, I’ll make us some tea,” he said, ducking out of Eren’s grasp. The brunet immediately bounced over and flopped onto his usual spot.

As he waited by the stove for the water to boil, Levi could hear Eren going back and forth in the hall, behind his back. It wasn’t like he’d really expected Eren to sit still. Though he wondered what was going on. Surely Eren didn’t need that many toilet runs.

When he returned to the living room, two steaming mugs in hand, any question about what Eren had been up to died on his lips. He gently set their teas down on the coffee table. “Really, Eren?”

Eren had somehow gathered all their blankets and pillows and had laid them out right under the tree. “Come on, just join me, it’s an even nicer view than from the couch,” Eren explained. “Please?”

“Why would I want to lie down on a cold, hard, and dusty floor?”

“Because you always ensure it _isn’t_ dusty, I brought blankets to make sure it wouldn’t be too hard and,” Eren wiggled his eyebrows, “I’ll keep you warm.”

Levi stared at him with a blank expression and slowly turned towards the couch.

“No wait, come on I’m sorry, please? Just for a bit? I’ll let you go before the tea even gets cold.”

There was no way laying down there was going to be comfortable. Then why on earth were his legs carrying him over to the blanket nest Eren had created? Levi resigned himself to his fate. Only Eren could ever get away with spreading the blankets he sleeps in on the floor. _And encouraging me to lie there_.

But there he was, and Eren was already throwing more covers over him. Levi peered up. “Hmm… It’s not too bad,” he murmured.

Eren chuckled, and Levi could feel his long limbs wrapping around him. Levi’s eyes narrowed.

“I have to make sure you’re not cold,” Eren simply stated.

“I assure you I’m fine,” Levi half-heartedly protested as Eren dragged him towards his chest.

“Warmth Levi… waaaarmth,” the younger one drawled sleepily, hugging him tighter. Seemed like a day of cleaning up had worn him out. Eren rested his chin on Levi’s head.

Levi might have resisted being pulled in a bit longer, but was distracted by Eren’s soft pulse at his neck. Before he could give it any thought, he pressed a soft kiss there.

Eren sighed contentedly. “Love you, Levi,” he whispered.

“I know,” Levi deadpanned. Before letting out an embarrassing squeak as Eren pinched his side.

“Rude,” Eren muttered. But Levi could hear the mirth in his voice.

Levi only hummed noncommittally in response. Earlier in their relationship he might have held on to his unimpressed act longer. It had be hard for him to accept how quickly he’d become pathetically smitten with this wide-eyed brat. Now, he could feel his heartbeat quicken as he let his hands move up to cling to the front of Eren’s sweater.

Before he could even begin to wonder if Eren even felt as relaxed and safe as he did in that moment, Levi felt his boyfriend’s breath even out.

Huh. Turns out this could be really comfortable. Levi nuzzled Eren’s neck and felt himself smile as he finally murmured back, “Love you too, kid.”

The tea was definitely cold by the time they woke up again.

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first fanwork ever, thank you so much to those who read it and encouraged me to continue writing n_n 
> 
> Follow me @raindrop-rouge on tumblr~


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